MVOMERO, Tanzania, Sep 24 2024 (IPS)* – In the scorching sun of Mikese village in Tanzania’s eastern Mvomero district, 31-year-old Maria Naeku tirelessly tends to her small vegetable patch. Each time she pulls a weed, the red soil stains her hands as she guides the trickle of water from a maze of pipes through an elevated bed to nurture her plants. In a drought-stricken area, Naeku’s small garden is a lifeline for her family, giving them food and income.
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Maria Naeku, a Maasaiwoman in Mikese village in Mvomero district tends to her vegetable garden.Credit: Kizito Makoye Shigela/IPS
The intensity of the present conflict in Lebanon has already claimed the lives of more children per day than the 2006 conflict.
UNICEF/UNI561764/SánchezOn February 22, 2024, friends of Hassan Al Durr, a 5-year-old girl killed in an airstrike, visit the aftermath of the deadly airstrike that claimed her life. Majdal Zoun, Southern Lebanon.
BEIRUT, 26 September 2024 (UNICEF)* –The average number of children killed per day in Lebanon this week is more than double the number of children killed per day during the country’s devastating 2006 conflict.
An estimated 400 children, or about 12 children per day, were killed during the 33-day 2006 conflict[1].
(UN News)* — A new humanitarian crisis is unfolding at Lebanon’s border with Syria as thousands of people flee Israeli shelling linked to the war in Gaza, UN humanitarians said on Thursday [], just as Israel premier Benyamin Netanyahu arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly.
Only hours earlier, UN Secretary-General António Guterreswarned the Security Council that “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon” along the UN-patrolled line of separation, with exchanges of fire greater in “scope, depth and intensity” than previously.
With the amount of aid Israel is currently allowing into Gaza, it will take humanitarian agencies more than two years to deliver the kits needed to prepare tents, makeshift shelters and damaged homes south of Wadi Gaza for this coming winter, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council-led Shelter Cluster in Palestine.
Makeshift site in Khan Younis, Gaza. Photo credit: Alison Ely / Palestine Shelter Cluster
25 September 2024 — At least 25,000 sealing-off kits, the equivalent of 25 truckloads, must be delivered per week to southern Gaza before the end of November, to meet the vast needs.
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Sep 26 2024 (IPS)* – In 2017, South African activist Nonhle Mbuthuma took a stand against the powerful oil giant Shell, halting their plans to explore the pristine Wild Coast.
Environmental activist Nonhle Mbuthuma.
Despite facing death threats, she refused to back down. As a co-founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee and a 2024 Goldman Prize winner, Mbuthuma continues to fight for her community’s rights and the environment.
Her bravery reflects the countless risks land and environmental defenders face across the globe.
(UN News)* —UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the Security Council on Wednesday [] “to work in lock-step” to end the escalating violence between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants across the Blue Line in southern Lebanon.
“Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon” the UN chief warned, noting that the exchanges of fire along the UN-patrolled line of separation “have expanded in scope, depth and intensity.”
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Monday [23 September 2024] saw Lebanon’s bloodiest day in a generation, as Israel continues to bombard largely Hezbollah-controlled territory, doubling down on the devastating electronic device attacks which killed hundreds last week.
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2024 (IPS)* –Sudan has been plunged into a deadly cholera outbreak in the midst of the Sudanese Civil War.
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In a Cholera information campaign, 9-year old Eiad demonstrates safe hygiene practices to mitigate the spread of disease. Credit: UNICEF/ Aymen Alfadil
20 September 2024 (UN News)* — Haiti is facing a “catastrophic and cataclysmic” human rights situation according to the UN’s designated expert on rights issues in the Caribbean island nation, William O’Neill.
Attacks by gangs, executions, kidnappings for ransom, violence against women – including rape – as well as corruption, inmates dying in jail and a paralyzed judicial system, are just some of the rights challenges the country is facing.
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And now Haitians are becoming frustrated at the slow pace of international efforts, particularly the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, to help the country to combat these problems, according to Mr. O’Neill.
(UN News)* — As Lebanon mourns the victims of a wave of Israeli airstrikes believed to have left hundreds dead, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [] against a return to the “dark days of 2006” when full-scale war broke out, calling for an urgent de-escalation and the protection of civilians.
Speaking from Beirut in the aftermath of Lebanon’s “worst day in 18 years”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) deputy representative in the country, Ettie Higgins, said that unless the violence stopped, the consequences could be “unconscionable”.
Power is the ability to make people, states, movements, organizations, or things do what they would not otherwise have done. It is a matter of fact that politics is seen to be about might rather than right.
Power in Politics
It can be said that, in essence, politics is power or, in other words, the ability of some international actor to get the desired results of his/her political behavior by using whatever instruments (legal or not, moral or not, etc.).
Makeshift site in Khan Younis, Gaza. Photo credit: Alison Ely / Palestine Shelter Cluster
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Power in Politics
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 